Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009): Season 3, Episode 7 - A Measure of Salvation - full transcript

(DRAMATIC INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

HELO: Previously
on Battlestar Galactica.

Some people in the Fleet believe
that the legend of Earth held,

perhaps, the greatest
promise for our survival.

Do you know
how to find it?

Not really, no.

There was a hope, my hope, that
if you knew the way to Earth,

it would justify keeping
you alive a little longer.

Now when I say that I do not
know exactly where Earth is,

that is not to say
that I do not know

a very great deal
about its probable location.



DORAL: A Baseship,

the one we sent to investigate
the pulsars in the Lion nebula,

we've lost contact.

CAPRICA SIX:
The missing Baseship,

it's been infected
by some kind of disease.

If an infected Cylon dies

and carries this disease with
them into a Resurrection ship,

it could rapidly spread, potentially
infecting our entire race.

If one of us is resurrected,
the disease will follow.

Then no Cylon can board that
ship without risking infection.

I'll go.
Yes, I'll go.

I can go to
the Baseship.

I can make observations about the
Cylons, their physical condition,

bring back information about this
disease which now threatens all of you.



BALTAR: Do you know
what this is?

It must be
some kind of beacon.

It must have been left here
by the Thirteenth Tribe.

A beacon carried the disease, left
by some humans like you to destroy us.

You noticed nothing suspicious
on the infected ship?

Nothing whatsoever.

I am just as
baffled as you are.

RACETRACK: Just like
the scriptures say.

There it is, the Lion's Head
nebula and the Blinking Eye.

Holy crap, it's the road to Earth!

APOLLO: This is Combat,
dressed and ready, plan A.

We are approaching
the Baseship.

It is just so wrong.

What the hell happened here?

ATHENA: Whatever this is,
it's something new.

Go.

Apollo, Galactica.
You are cleared hot.

APOLLO: Roger that,
Galactica.

We're in pretty close now.

By the look of it, that ship's
in no condition to put up a fight.

I've never seen anything
like this. Shall we proceed?

Hang on, guys!

HELO: Use extreme caution, Apollo.

(RUMBLING)

APOLLO: Set perimeter.
Up inside, everyone.

Galactica, Apollo.
We're in.

Galactica, Apollo.
No sign of life.

Ship appears to be
abandoned and powering down.

APOLLO: What the hell?

(COUGHS)

Gods. What happened here?

I don't know, but their frakking
Resurrection ship's gonna overheat.

Galactica, Apollo. We've
reached the control center.

Thirty, maybe forty
dead skin jobs.

Mathias,
set a perimeter!

Sharon, Athena, see what you
can pick up in the computers.

MATHIAS: Three fire teams,
each doorway. Go!

MARINE: Yes, sir.

ATHENA: Okay, I'm gonna
try to call up the database.

If I get a connection, put the
SSR leads in the water over there.

Reduce the error correction
levels for highest throughput.

RACETRACK: You sure
you wanna do that?

ATHENA: It's how it works.

(GASPS)

You okay?

Yeah. The data points are
almost completely corroded.

I don't know if I'm gonna get
much out of here, but let's try.

What is going on?

MARINE: We're now
inside all perimeters.

Frak me!
This one's alive!

We got a live one
over here!

MATHIAS: Danelli, Peters,
cover the Major!

APOLLO: They're alive!

Galactica, Apollo. We've
got one, two, three, four,

five living skin jobs
down here.

I say again, five...
Five living.

HELO: Are you taking fire?

Negative, negative.

They seem in
pretty bad shape.

Don't take any chances. If they
make any threatening moves...

APOLLO: You can
trust me on that one.

MARINE: Stay down!

Major, what do we do?
Should we take them out?

APOLLO: Hold your fire.
Hold your fire!

(GRUNTING)

MATHIAS: Stay, you frakkers!

I said hold your fire!

NO. 6: (COUGHING) Grant us
the strength, the wisdom.

APOLLO: What are they doing?

Above all, a measure...

Hey, Athena, what are you doing? Athena!

What are you doing?
Athena!

Grant us the strength,
the wisdom...

Traitor.

Save yourself.

From what?

Keep away from us.

What happened here?

NO. 6: The beacon,
we brought it onboard.

(COUGHING)

It carried a disease.

We're infected.

Infected?

Son-of-a-bitch!

Okay, okay, okay!

Settle down,
keep your heads!

Watch the doorways!
Get the doorways!

Galactica, Apollo. We
have a situation down here.

The Cylons have been
infected with a disease.

We have all been exposed.
We've all been exposed.

(THEME MUSIC)

COTTLE: They'll have to come
aboard under quarantine procedures.

Clear a path from the hangar
deck to sickbay and sterilize it,

and the Raptors
after they're in.

I'll handle that.

How long will they have
to stay in quarantine?

I won't know that until
I do the blood work.

Could be days, weeks,
there's no way to tell.

You said they picked up
this disease from a beacon?

According to the Cylons.

Always good to have the
source of the pathogen.

Can you bring it
aboard Galactica?

No, too dangerous. I want
to limit our exposure.

What about
the prisoners?

Prisoners?

The disease is more
advanced in their systems,

so it'll give me at least an idea
of what to expect as it progresses.

And when they die, it'll tell me
how long our people have to live.

How many prisoners?

How many you got?

HELO: Apollo, Galactica.
Alpha check.

Galactica. We have you in visual
range. Approaching starboard hangar.

(EXPLOSION)

HELO: Apollo, what was that?

GAETA: Massive energy
discharge from the Baseship!

It exploded, sir.

Apollo, Galactica.
You all right out there?

Yeah, affirmative.
We're still here.

What the hell
happened?

Baseship exploded.
Must've self-destructed.

You guys are lucky
you got out when you did.

Roger that.

Nothing the matter, I trust?

We have some questions.

How long have you planned
to betray us, Gaius?

(SCOFFS)

Funny.

You're joking, of course.

You're only making this
harder on yourself.

Wait a minute.

I have been more than very
accommodating since I arrived here.

I helped you
find Sharon's baby.

I've helped you
with the map towards Earth.

We know about
the beacon, Gaius.

You knew it was out there. You
knew it contained a deadly virus.

No, I didn't.
I didn't.

Was the virus
created by Galactica?

D'ANNA: Have you been in contact with
them since you've been on onboard,

or did you plan this before
the evacuation of New Caprica?

This is a most
profound misunderstanding.

No. I had nothing to do
with the virus or the beacon.

Yes. Yes, I did discover it
on the Baseship

and I should have told you
about it sooner, and I didn't.

Because I thought, you know,
you'd try and link me, you know,

to the virus, which is
what is going on right now.

I was wrong
and it was a mistake,

and I fully admit
my responsibility.

It will never happen again,

and I hope you accept my most,
you know, my most humble apology.

On a brighter note, I have a working
theory as to where this beacon may...

I'm sorry, Gaius.

Things would've been so much
simpler had you only told the truth.

We think you know more about this
virus and we intend to find out.

Relax, have a drink.

I can't.

The pain, the pain...

It's all in
your head, Gaius.

Pain, pleasure, they're just
neural impulses sent to the brain.

You decide
how to interpret them.

(SOBBING)

They can be
pleasant or unpleasant.

(SCREAMING)

(HIGH-PITCHED WHIRRING)

(SCREAMING)

No! No, please!

Please! No!

(WHIRRING SLOWS)

I want it
to stop, Gaius.

I don't want you
to feel this pain.

And neither does Caprica. Do you?

No.

I love you.

You feel anything yet?

Yeah. I feel sick.
Sick of you bugging me.

You didn't touch
any infected skin jobs.

It's not my fault
you're clumsy.

You can kiss
my infected ass.

Well, you can kiss it, but it's not
infected. I got your blood work back.

Humans are immune to the
virus. You're all healthy.

Thank you.

All right, people, nice job.
Let's get out of here.

PILOT: Come on,
let's get out of here.

No. You stay put
for a while.

Yes!

No, no, no, no, no. Please.
Tell me she's okay.

I haven't done
her blood work yet.

What?

I see. She can wait
because of who she isn't.

Sharon?

You're gonna be okay,
I promise.

You come for me,
Gods damn it,

you come for me
the second you know.

Take him.
He's the furthest gone.

No! No! No.

ROSLIN: You can keep
the Cylons alive?

I can't cure them,
but yes.

How long?

Indefinitely.

I identified the virus. We know
it as "Lymphocytic encephalitis. "

The disease is carried
by rodents, rats, mostly.

But a couple of hundred years
ago, humans developed an immunity.

Now I can create
a simple vaccine

that will dramatically reverse the
effect of the virus on the Cylons.

But they have an antibody in their blood
which breaks down the RNA of the vaccine.

So they will need regular, close-interval
injections of the vaccine or they will die.

Can I ask
the ugly question here?

Is there any reason
to keep them alive?

We could interrogate them
for intelligence.

I agree. We have a lot
of unanswered questions.

Yeah, okay,
but they're not gonna talk.

ROSLIN: Well, they might
if we dangle the vaccine.

They don't need to know
it's a stopgap, not a cure.

They prayed
on the infected ship.

Karl's wife said it was something called,
"The Prayer to the Cloud of Unknowing,"

whatever the hell that is.

Anyway, the point is,
she said they only use it

when they're facing an
imminent death that is final,

no possibility of downloading.

They're ready to die.

They may be ready to die,

but it doesn't mean that one of
them won't jump at a second chance.

It infected everything,

the Baseship,
Centurions, Raiders,

and so we were finally abandoned
by the other Cylon ships.

Why?

Why not just put you under
quarantine until they found a cure?

Fear of spreading
the disease.

They told us that there was a
bio-electric feedback component

to the pathogen.

It corrupts how our brains
manage our immune systems.

(COUGHING)

If one of us dies and is
resurrected, the disease will follow,

infecting the Resurrection
ship and the Fleet.

Why were you in this
area in the first place?

We were sent.

We were sent here
to look for the Lion nebula.

Baltar said it would
point the way to Earth.

What did you just say?

Baltar...
Baltar's alive?

Baltar is on our Baseship.

He's helping us find Earth.

He's using our navigation charts
along with our map of Kobol.

He's leading them to Earth.

We want a new beginning,

much like you.

I gave you information.

She said that
there was a cure.

Doc Cottle will be
giving you the medicine.

Take him back
to the infirmary.

MARINE: Yes, sir.

(APOLLO LAUGHING)

What the hell is so funny?

I think I just thought of a way
to solve all of our problems,

to get rid of the Cylon threat
for once and for all.

We can wipe them out. We can
destroy the entire Cylon race.

APOLLO: We jump to an area we know
the Cylons use as a supply line,

NCD2539.

We stay there, exposed. We look
as if we're spoiling for a fight.

They'll send their fleet.

And where there's a fleet,
there's a Resurrection ship.

Now, once the Resurrection
ship is within our reach,

we execute our infected
prisoners. We bug out.

The executed prisoners download
into the Resurrection ship

and with them, the virus.

You're sure the virus
will download to a new body?

The Cylons are sure of it.

They left their wounded out here to
die alone with no hope of being rescued,

that tells me
all I need to know.

And once the virus
is in the Resurrection ship,

there'll be no stopping it.

Rescuers become carriers
of the plague.

The Cylons themselves don't
believe that they'll develop a cure.

My Gods.

This could be the end
of the Cylons entirely.

Forever.
Genocide?

So that's what
we're about now?

They're not human. They
were built, not born.

No fathers, no mothers,
no sons, no daughters...

I had a daughter.
I held her in my arms.

She was half human.

These are things,
dangerous things.

This is our one chance
to be rid of them.

You can rationalize it
any way you want.

We do this,
we wipe out their race,

then we're no different
than they are.

ROSLIN: Captain,
I respectfully disagree.

The Cylons struck
first in this war.

And not being content with the
annihilation of billions of human beings,

they've pursued us relentlessly
through the galaxies,

determined to wipe us out.

They tried to live
with us on New Caprica.

What did you say?

They tried to live
with us on New Caprica.

You were not on New Caprica. To my
recollection you didn't set foot there.

So out of respect for the hundreds
of men and women on your crew

who suffered
through that snake pit,

I'm gonna pretend
I didn't hear that.

You would serve your fleet well
if you would remember occasionally

that the Cylons
are a mortal threat

to the survival
of the human race.

I'm talking about
right and wrong.

I'm talking about losing
a piece of our souls.

But no one wants to hear that,
right? Let's keep it on me.

Yeah, I'm married to a Cylon

who walked through hell
for all of us how many times?

And she's not half anything.

Okay, how do we know
there aren't others like her?

She made a choice. She's a
person, they're a race of people.

Wiping them out with a biological
weapon is a crime against...

Is a crime against humanity.

But they're not human.
They're programmed.

We will take your input under
advisement. Thank you both.

Thank you, ma'am.

Dismissed.

(HIGH-PITCHED WHIRRING)

(SCREAMING)

I can help you.

I can guide you through
the torment and beyond,

but you'll have
to do the work.

(GASPING)

I'll do anything.
Anything!

Then tell us
what we want to know.

How was the virus invented?
Did they make a cure?

Look at me.
Look at me.

When you make
love to me, Gaius,

you don't always
think about me.

Your mind wanders,
I know that.

You think of equations,
puzzles, your laundry...

It's the nature of the mind to disconnect
from the body and journey on its own.

Separate your mind from your
body. Keep your mind in that room.

Use your intellect
against her.

Reason. Logic.
Analysis.

Find the holes
in her psyche.

I can't. The pain...

The pain is only in your body,
so keep your body here with me.

Don't worry,
I'll care take of it.

D'ANNA: You see, Gaius, this is
what the absence of pain feels like.

It's easy to forget.

I had nothing to do with the
virus. It was a coincidence.

There's no such thing
as coincidence.

God wills the universe
according to His design.

Now focus on her
as a Cylon, not a woman.

Be a scientist.
Examine her faith.

What's your analysis, Doctor?

I'm a scientist.

And as a scientist,

I believe that if God exists, our
knowledge of him is imperfect. Why?

Because the stories
and myths we have

are the products of men,
the passage of time.

The religion you practice is based
on a theory, impossible to prove,

yet you bestow it
with absolutes like

"there is no such thing
as coincidence. "

It's called faith.

Absolute belief in God's will means
there's a reason for everything.

Everything!

And yet,

you can't help ask yourself how
God can allow death and destruction,

and then despise yourself for asking.

But the truth is, if we knew God's
will, we'd all be Gods, wouldn't we?

I can see it
in your eyes, D'Anna.

You're frustrated. You're
conflicted. Let me help you.

Let me help you change,

find a way to reconcile
your faith with fact,

find a way towards
a rational universe!

I don't know
what your game is,

but it's not going to work.

You intentionally led one of our
ships to that beacon, didn't you?

(DRILLING)

Give your body to me.
Only your mind is there.

Feel me. Feel this where
she wants you to feel pain.

Look at me.
Look at me, Gaius.

Do want me to believe
you're worth saving?

Do you? Do you? Say it.

(DRILLING CONTINUES)

I want you to believe in me!

Don't stop. Don't stop!

Please! Please don't stop!

You have to believe in me,
you're all I have left!

(MOANING)

Now tell me
you believe in me.

Tell me you believe
in my strength.

I believe in you!
I believe in you.

BALTAR: I love you.

I love you
with all my heart.

I love you with all my heart.

How?

Cottle said it had something to do
with carrying a half-human child,

how the fetal blood cells enter
the maternal circulatory system,

causing the mother to create
antibodies, whatever. I'm immune!

Oh, you.

Our baby saved my life.

She's gone forever and she saved
my life. Hera kept us together.

To share this.

"This"?

What, you mean us,
together? You mean us?

Them, them.
I mean them.

Who's "them"?

They're gonna execute
the infected prisoners,

but not until we jump
into a Cylon region,

with a Resurrection
ship present.

The infection's
gonna spread everywhere.

(SOBBING)

There's a point
I'd like to make.

The law forbids me
to use biological weapons

without a direct
presidential order.

Which means
you're passing the buck.

On this one, yes.

Helo's right
on one thing.

We start destroying entire
races, even mechanical races,

we're liable to tear off
a piece of a man's soul.

The Cylons
are coming to Earth.

If they find us,
they are coming for us.

Those are the stakes.
They always have been, Bill.

We're talking about the
genocide of your entire race.

Yeah. You think
I don't know that?

I made a choice
to wear a uniform.

To be a person.

You were a person before you
put on that uniform, okay?

You were a person before
I fell in love with you.

You don't have to prove that.

I have to prove it every day.

Let me tell you
something, Helo.

My people may die, my
entire race may be wiped out,

but this Cylon
will keep her word,

even if it means she's the
last Cylon left in the universe.

Can a human being do that?

Posterity really doesn't look
too kindly on genocide.

You're making an assumption that
posterity will define this as genocide.

If they do, at least there'll be
someone alive to hate us for it.

The Cylons are our
mistake, we created them.

All right, Admiral Adama,

as President, I have determined
the Cylons be made extinct.

The use of biological
weapons is authorized.

So say we all.

(SCOFFS)

So say we all.

Jump complete. Dradis
is clear, no Cylons, sir.

They'll be here soon enough.
Get our birds in the air.

Commence Viper
and nav Raptor launch.

CREWMAN: Once more there!
Let's get it closed. Let's go!

Let's do this,
Racetrack.

CREWMAN 1: Let's go,
let's go, let's go!

CREWMAN 2: Prepare the tubes!

CREWMAN 3: Spinning up.

CREWMAN 4: All up!

Let's go! Let's go!
Move them back!

Let's go! Let's go!
Come on!

Cap is away. Nav Bird
has them on Dradis.

Dradis contact.
Pair of Cylon Raiders.

Keeping their
distance for now.

Didn't take them
that long. It's just scouts.

They'll jump away and
report back to their fleet.

See if they take our bait.

Got it. There's a
Resurrection ship with them.

Then it's time to execute our
Cylon prisoners. Call it in.

Terminate the prisoners.

Head shots, okay?

Yes, sir.

Let's do it.

Let's see if we can't frak up some
toasters on this joyride, people.

HOTDOG: Bogies holding hands,
I'm notching like hell up here!

Hot Dog, Starbuck.

Quit your bitching and
continue to cover us, frak!

All right,
out of the way.

Frak! They're already dead.
They're already dead.

Sir,
you should hear this.

APOLLO: They were dead before the
Resurrection ship was in range.

They didn't download the disease.
We have missed our window.

Galactica, Starbuck.
The Baseship just jumped in.

Call our birds in.
Spool up.

Let's get
the hell out of here.

Commence it, Theo!
Yes, sir!

Sir, we've lost time waiting
to hear from quarantine.

We're going to take significant
fire while we spool up.

Wait a minute.

Continue jump.

Take us back to our fleet.

Yes, sir.

They're coming for me.
You or me.

It seems like they're
always coming for one of us.

I'm not a traitor. I love
my people, I love this ship.

Besides you, the first I want to see on
any morning are the lights in that CIC.

But I did what
I thought was right.

If it was a mistake,
fine, I can live with that.

It's you I can't live without.

I'll always love you, Helo.

No, thanks.

(SIGHS)

The prisoners died
of asphyxiation.

The air purification system was
reversed. Sucked the oxygen out.

When this happens,
the dead bolts

are automatically
activated on the door.

Someone did this manually.

Someone?

Seems to me there's only
one or two likely suspects.

Who will head
the investigation?

No one. I'm closing the book on this.

How convenient.

Cottle's report
on the virus.

He thinks that it was simply
an accidental contamination

of the beacon we abandoned
on the sickbay ship.

Somebody sneezed, maybe?

Yeah, an entire race
almost wiped out

because someone forgot
to wipe their nose.

According to Cottle,
the virus was an exact match

to one reported
over 3,000 years ago,

right around the time that the
Thirteenth Colony left Kobol.

That beacon
was a signpost to Earth.

I think we're on
the right trail, Laura.

Yes, we are
on the right trail, Bill.

So are the Cylons.

(SIGHS)

(THEME MUSIC)